Time is not enough: promoting strategic engagement with writing for publication

Abstract

Research, scholarship and publication are central to the work of higher education. However, even academics with the necessary research and writing skills can struggle to publish as often as they would like. Research suggests that a writing retreat is one solution; there is a process going on there that addresses the problem, but how it does so has not been fully explained. The authors used a novel approach, containment theory, to explain why the functions of a structured retreat work. They argue that a retreat does more than simply provide time to write; it is a model for academics to meet the demands of research assessment. Finally, the authors conceptualise this as strategic engagement – a model for producing regular writing for publication while continuing to meet other professional demands.

Keywords:

• academic writing
• writing skills
• theoretical framework
• writing groups
• academic roles

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the British Council for funding this research, Mary Newton for conducting the interviews and the referees for their insightful and supportive comments, which helped us to improve this article.